20 years ago

30 September 1998

Essie 98 / Mother buried.

Breakfast with Madine. Postum [?], sausages, Fiber & Fruit cereal (good)—some white grapes. Dressed in Japan suit. To Cemetery. There Hartsell & [new wife] Wanda, Wilma & son [Elbert’s daughter & her son neither of whom I knew], Lucille Baldwin [wife or widow of one of Ona’s sons], Billy King, Madine bringing Andrew, Alice [Euna’s daughter whom I did not know) & husband, Carol, Sunny, & friend [whose name I did not get]. Hot—an awning but Andrew kept getting in sun. We stood on Daddy to walk by the casket. Brushed flies away to be sure none were in casket. Afterwards to Wister. Essie alone. 98^th birthday. Billy came. Vietnam stories. [Billy= Alice Rogers’s son, Essie’s nephew, younger than me but my father’s first cousin, darker than him because his father, Herbert, was Choctaw.]. Off to Poteau. Got 2 more chickens [again, after yesterday] & grapes & milk & ate at 130 at Andrew’s. -Washed off deodorant and changed to jeans. Sd Gdbye & drove to Tulsa. Decided on plan on way.  Retnd rental car to Dollar & got a great break-total of 64 or so—24 hrs & 1 hr plus. Then bk & forth –gate to front ticket counter. 20 min wait but got a very kind woman who put me not on the 6 pm flight to Dallas but the 7 p, so I had an hour to call & cancel Radisson--& then flew to Dallas—long wait on ground. Bought ham & cheese roll & muffin—no food on plane—stuffed with people. Tiny seat. Fat man (very intelligent, in aviation) behind me—Knee caps crushed, neck unsupported. Had called Heddy & Paul—plan to go to Paul’s [in Westwood] --plan to go there & ride up to Morro Bay with them [on their way to Carmel]. Anxious about western flight—took 3 hrs, not two and quarter—found Selby without much trouble. Paul & Danielle up—Danielle getting her supper (back from Houston 28^th & at work 10 hrs today). Then a very comfortable featherbed on sofa. Slept. So made it safely to LA despite all the dangers that might come from a moment of fatigue.